First all-civilian flight to orbit blazes new trail for charity with this week's SpaceX launch
CBSN
An all-civilian, non-astronaut crew, including a childhood cancer survivor, is ready for blastoff this week on a history-making SpaceX flight. Launch is scheduled for Wednesday evening for the first fully commercial, non-government flight to orbit, a charity-driven mission proponents say will open the door for "everyday people" to fly in space.
While billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos made headlines earlier this summer spending a few minutes in weightlessness during up-and-down sub-orbital flights to space, the Inspiration4 crew will spend three days orbiting the Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. And not just any orbit. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will boost the Crew Dragon Resilience into a planned 360-mile-high orbit, 100 miles above the International Space Station, higher than anyone has flown since the final shuttle visit to the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to testify in federal court Tuesday in the ongoing criminal trial of former Florida Congressman David Rivera, who is accused of secretly lobbying for the Venezuelan government during the first Trump administration.
A U.S. Park Police officer was seriously wounded Monday evening in a shooting in Washington, law enforcement officials said.
A large explosion at a Valero oil refinery near the Texas Gulf coast Monday shot plumes of smoke into the air and forced some nearby residents to shelter in place. In: